After spending the past three years in the NT, Alice Springs race-caller Dylan Bairstow is heading back home to Perth.
Bairstow, 32, farewelled the Red Centre after calling the Alice Springs Cup Day program at Pioneer Park on Sunday and he was on the road just outside of Ceduna in South Australia on Wednesday when contacted for an interview.
There were a few personal factors that prompted the son of former Geelong AFL captain Mark Bairstow to return to Western Australia and to leave Alice Springs was certainly met with sadness.
“It’s always sad to leave – I don’t like saying goodbye to many people,” he said.
“It was a bit hard, but I’ve made some life-long friends.
“Just loved the small community – with the trainers and jockeys, as well as those outside racing – there’s some bloody good people around.
“Alice Springs has been terrific for me.
“My first proper calling job and to get the opportunity that the Alice Springs Turf Club gave me was fantastic.
“I’m sure I’ll be back there next year to watch the Carnival.”
Bairstow can thank Darwin-based jockey Casey Hunter, who hails from Albany in WA and rides regularly in Alice Springs, for his decision to relocate to Central Australia.
“It all started through my good friend from Perth, Casey Hunter, when she was riding there,” he said.
“She was doing a couple of trips over to Alice Springs and Darwin, and she told me that there was a spot becoming available in Alice Springs as Pat Comerford, who is now working in Singapore, was leaving for New Zealand.
“So I sent my tapes in, did a couple of meetings as a trial and then made the move.
“Alice Springs is a terrific place for a young race-caller to start.
“You get 34 meetings all on Sky Channel.
“Small fields, same sort of population of horses.
“You can learn and sure you’ll make mistakes, but you can quickly get over them if you’re inexperienced.
“It’s just a great little platform for you to get a go and get an opportunity on Sky – basically three times a month.
“I was also working full-time for the club doing the track and ground maintenance.
“The Alice Springs Turf Club have been really good to me, I couldn’t have asked for much more in that sense.
“They’ve really looked after me, so I owe them a fair bit and I’ll forever be in debt to them.”
Bairstow arrived in the Red Centre in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck and just before the start of the Alice Springs Carnival which starts in April and normally ends with Cup Day on the first Sunday in May.
In 2023, Cup Day was held on the final Sunday in April.
“My first Carnival was the COVID year when Lotion won the Cup for Angela Forster and there was no one at the track – that was a bit different,” he said.
“Alice Springs had it’s ups and downs, but it has been good – a great three years.”
He covered four Alice Springs Carnivals and as far as Bairstow is concerned it’s without question the best time of year.
And looking back over the past three years, it wasn’t hard to identify an ever-lasting highlight.
“The Carnival is always great fun, I love going to the calcutta and stuff like that,” he said.
“The highlight was probably last year’s Cup, I thought, when Gary Clarke and Jarrod Todd combined to win with Count Of Essex and what it meant to them.
“Just the emotion of the day and the brilliant ride by Toddy – he weaved his way through.
“It was a good day to be involved in racing for what it meant for everyone else.”
In late 2021, Clarke and wife Sharlene mourned the passing of their son Guy.
Bairstow admitted that crowd numbers were down for this year’s Carnival, but in general he couldn’t fault the five meetings that culminated with Dick Leech’s Write Your Name winning the Cup and Terry Gillett’s Supreme Attraction taking out the Pioneer Sprint.
“The racing was tremendous, it couldn’t have been any better I don’t think,” he said.
“There were big numbers, full fields most of the time.
“It was a very fair track and everyone got their chance I thought.
“Obviously, Dick Leech winning his first Cup was a highlight – I’m pretty good mates with Dick.
“He didn’t know how to take me at the start, he thought I was a bit of a smart ass.
“He soon realised that I was only joking and it was terrific to see him win the Cup.
“He pours a lot of money into it and he deserves the success he gets – he’s also poured a lot of money into his stable there at Alice Springs.
“If you put the money in and you work hard, you deserve to get the rewards – all power to him.”
Former Alice Springs race-caller Shane Green, who preceded Comerford and Bairstow, is currently based in Darwin and will temporarily fill the void at Pioneer Park until the ASTC finds a replacement.
Finally, Bairstow hopes to continue race calling when he settles back in Perth.
“I’ll try and get in the calling ranks there,” he said.
“It will be slow for a little while, but hopefully I can find a spot there somewhere.”
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